Regulator rejects Midlands charity’s claim it lost its accounts 120 miles away in the Grenfell fire

The Charity Commission has taken action after a charity claimed it had lost its financial records in the Grenfell Tower fire, despite being headquartered more than 120 miles away.

The action has been taken against Birmingham based The Voice of Trust (TVOT), which has since been removed from the charities register.

The regulator had investigated the charity amid concerns around financial irregularities.

During its investigation the Charity Commission found been told by the charity that missing accounting records had been destroyed during the Grenfell Tower fire in London

But the regulator “found no evidence to support the explanation that all TVOT’s records had been destroyed in the Grenfell Tower Fire, and insufficient justification as to why these documents were not held at, or near, TVOT’s address in Birmingham”.

Further concerns included TVOT submitting two sets of accounts for the year ending March 2016. The first set appeared to be an altered copy of a report into another charity’s accounts from the previous year.

In addition, “the inquiry found that the named contact for TVOT and the person said to have submitted the annual returns to the Commission during 2011 and 2012, had no knowledge of the charity and was not, and never had been, involved in the administration of TVOT”.

A trustee at TVOT has been disqualified for ten years and misconduct and/or mismanagement was found in the administration of TVOT, which was removed from the register of charities in 2018 as it was no longer operating.

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